Bliss
by pattioc
Summary: Bliss is the state of happiness at its fullest; a feeling of total joy. J/S, oneshot


Author's Note: Hello everyone! This is my first fanfiction, and I've made it a Liberty's Kids fic because I feel there aren't enough LK stories. So, that being said, I would ask that you please review and provide me with honest feedback. I'm hoping to write more for the LK category as well as other categories, so your thoughts on my writing would be greatly appreciated! This is a Sarah/James oneshot set after the show ends, and it's a bit fluffy, so if you don't like that kind of stuff I suggest you don't read this. I'm usually pretty critical of anything I write, but after I read this I didn't think it was too bad. But I care about what you have to say, so again, please tell me what you think. Also, I do not own Liberty's Kids. On with the story! Enjoy!

Bliss

"_Follow your __bliss__ and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls__."_

_Joseph Campbell_

The final rays of sunlight slipped beyond the horizon, leaving in their wake the blackness of nightfall and only memories of the preceding day. The full moon bathed the landscape below in a gentle, luminous glow that made visibility convenient for whosoever happened to be out-of-doors. Sarah Phillips sat contentedly in a cleared patch of a wide meadow, the lingering breeze from the summer day playing gently with the stray locks of hair about her temples. It had been a perfect day in every sense of the word; a day unparalleled by any other. As night peaceably set in around her, she was overwhelmed by an inner tranquility she had not known in recent years past. Every aspect of her life was finally falling into place. She had been a wanderer ever since she had arrived in America. Until this day had dawned, she had questioned fate's will for her, its ruling of her destiny, fearful that it would leave her helpless and misguided in a land that she loved but that was still a puzzling mystery to her. All that she had prayed for had at last come to be on this former day. Now, she could finally lay claim to her own future, one she would chart out and dictate entirely by her free choice. The fates had lost their battle with her!

A rustling in the grass nearby broke her reverie. She bolted upright and her breath clenched in her chest, until the perpetrator responsible for the disturbance emerged into the clearing. She exhaled in relief.

"What are you doing out here, alone in the dark?" He posed the question the way a doting mother would, yet there was a mischievous glint in his sapphire eyes. "Looking for trouble?"

He sat down next to her, with his legs crossed, Indian-style, on the grassy floor. She swatted him lightly on the arm for making fun of her enjoyed solitude. "James, I told you I would be out here for awhile. I simply need time to contemplate all that's happened these past several hours."

She could not help but feel warmed by his presence, knowing that he was now her betrothed. She thought lovingly of how anxious and agitated he had been that afternoon when he had approached her father and formally asked if he could have his daughter's hand in marriage. He was far from the cultured gentleman most women entertained thoughts of wedding, but his awkward, clumsy nature was a trait she found endearing in her fiancé. Indeed, their courtship had been brief prior to his proposal, but then again, there was no need for it to have been prolonged. They knew each other well enough from the many years they had spent working together as journalists. A courtship was almost unnecessary by that point in their relationship. The only thing that had remained was for each of them to confess their love to the other. On her part, it had not been difficult to reveal her heart's longings. Months of separation following Dr. Franklin's death, during which time he had opened his own newspaper in New York City, and she had settled into her family's residence in upstate New York, had driven them to near madness. They found that they could not bear to be apart permanently. He brought joy into her life where before there had only been turmoil and chaos.

His brow arched in mock-suspicion at her sudden lull in conversing. "You wouldn't happen to be rethinking your decision, would you?"

She rolled her eyes exasperatedly, but there was softness in her voice when she spoke. "No. I wouldn't dream of it." She thought about the event that had transpired that evening. "The answer I gave you came from my whole heart. I can't possibly imagine another way in which I would want to spend the remainder of my life."

The light was dim, but she could make out him beaming at her response. "Good. I can't imagine any woman would turn down a proposal like that."

She smirked, but it was in jest at his good-natured sense of humor. Sobering, she replied, "It was absolutely beautiful, James. How could I turn you down? I never imagined that the man I would marry would ask me to do so so, so …immaculately." Her breath hitched in her throat as she recalled the way he had took her hands in his and knelt before her, the way his eyes had glistened with tears as she had consented to become his wife, to have and to hold forever…

_My love for you has shaped me into the man I am today. Without you, I never would have amounted to anything. I would have remained stubborn and insolent, too immature, too selfish to see past the first thought in my head. I always acted on impulse. But you taught me the value of prudence, and more importantly, you taught me to love. I had never truly loved before I met you, Sarah. I never had anyone to love. I was alone, despite the companionship of those around me. I never dreamed of falling in love before you, because I had no idea what real, true love is. The times we've shared in the past were the happiest, most joyful moments of my life. I realized that without you, I would cease to be the person I had become. That's why I was so intent on refusing to speak to you when you returned to England. I was losing the one person in the world I really loved. I was too childish to tell you of that love until recently, believing you could never return my sentiments. You have no idea how elated I was when you told me you felt the same. My heart was not a heart until you told me you loved me. I want to spend the rest of my days with you, learning more about what love is, and learning more about the woman I've fallen in love with._

The individual words were simple, but together, in Sarah's mind, they were pure eloquence. She had not known James possessed such depth of character, such depth of soul.

"Immaculately?"

His voice interrupted her thoughts for the second time that evening. She struggled to remember what they had been discussing before her mind drifted elsewhere. "Oh, the proposal. Yes, you did say it rather immaculately."

He chuckled. "I'm glad it was satisfactory."

Sarah was awed once again by his versatility of character. At times he could be sarcastic and naïve to a fault, but he occasionally had moments of elegant rhetoric when he stunned her with the implications behind his words.

She pulled her legs in toward her body so that she could rest her chin atop her knees. He gazed at her profile in silent wonderment. She was ethereal, beauty at its purest and most refined. Her visage was aglow with all the indications of true serenity. He could tell she was at absolute peace with herself in that moment, and he found that he was too, knowing that he was the origin of that peace that inhabited her.

He patted his knee, and she recognized the familiar gesture and laid her head in his lap, willing to remain in that position for all time if possible. A smile tugged at the corners of his lips as he brushed her fiery hair back from her face, revealing a beautifully crafted, alabaster forehead. She sighed in joy and her eyelids grew heavy as he ran his long fingers through her tresses, capturing the ends between them. She slowly reached up and grasped one of his hands in her own and brought it to her lips, kissing it reverently. Their eyes met, green emeralds drowning in a blue sea.

He was the first to speak after several long seconds elapsed, his voice suddenly husky. She loved his voice now, with all its rich tones, though she sometimes missed the boyish charm it had carried when they were teenagers. "We'd best head back to the house. Your parents will start to worry."

Reluctantly, she nodded. He gently removed her head from his lap, as she was unwilling to do so herself just yet. He stood and offered her his hand.

She gave it to him as freely as she had given him her whole future not long before. He stood, transfixed, staring down at their intertwined fingers, admiring the porcelain quality of her skin and its silkiness. Her hand fit snugly inside of his; a perfect partner.

"You know," he began, lost for breath himself, "I've been trying to think of a word that defines us; what we mean to each other. But I can't think of one that seems appropriate."

She smiled at him, a gorgeous sight to behold, and she was confident in her reply. "Bliss. Pure, unadulterated bliss."

He beamed back at her, and they started back to the house.


End file.
